Like mother, like daughter
by tina titan
Summary: this is a spin off for a later chapter in the faults in our lives. But Wally West is brought back! there is a lot of language, mostly from the kids.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter one

six months. that's how long wally's been gone. six long, miserable months with out him. they had all suffered, but none as much as Artemis. she sits by the zeta tubes with m'gann, who tries once again to comfort her. her grey eyes are tinted red from crying. Wally, the wallman, baywatch. the sheer memory of her lover hurts. at times it feels likes she's drowning and no matter how hard she tried she couldn't breathe. and sitting here with m'gann...a thousand things to say pass through her mind, but not a single word passes her lips.

"-la" a girl yells. A swirling red portal opens parallel to the floor. a girl yells in pain when she slams into the concrete. M'gann and Artemis are frozen, their eyes wide open. the girl sits up as the portal disappears. she jumps to her feet, shouting," When i find out where i am, I'm going to kick you ass!"

she does a fast 360 and starts babling to herself at top speed," in space, i'm probably in the watchtower. funny alarms should have gone of- ah there they go… let's see should take them less than two minutes depending on where they are and if they can teleport… where-or more accurately when am i? the stars are different than when i looked last night. Wait! there were two people by the zeta tubes, i think it was m'gann and … cassie maybe."

she turns to them. they haven't seen much except for her long blonde braid and the quiver of arrows strapped to her back. Aqualad, superboy, and nightwing run into the room, followed by robin, wondergirl, and blue beatle. they zero in on the bow in the girl's hand and attack.

"Whoa," The blode yelps as a golden rope tries to ensnare her. she hits the ground and rolls. nightwing punches downward at her. The girl kicks him in the chest, hard. he goes flying across the room. the girl gets to her knees and fires arrows six at a time. three pin robin to the wall and two more pin wondergirl. smoke escapes from the shafts knocking the two unconicous. superboy charges. she fires a green arrow that instantly makes him fall to his knees. two fire aroows erupt at m'gann and aqualad's feet. Blue beetle disintergrates the floor beneath her shoes. but that doesn't slow her down. she flips forward, firing an arrow so charged with electricity they can hear the charge from the other side of the room. two minutes. that's how long it took this girl to take down seven of the most powerful (or well known) supperheroes. she pulls one more arrow and aims at the last target. instead of firing, she freezes. Artemis has her sword drawn and the two stare down. She's young- 16, 17 at most. her blonde hair is braided and pulled back with a head band. her skin is tanned and her eyes are a fiery green. she radiates power, as if she has it all at her finger tips. her shoulders moves up and down as she catches her breathe. her eyes widen with horrer.

"oh crap…" she murmurs under her breath. she blinks and looks around," OH CRAP!"

she races around the room, grabbing arrows and stomping out fires. her arrows that hold Robin and wondergirl to the walll are six inches in solid stone. she pulls them out like butter. she's in her original spot. the heroes slowly rise to their feet. her eyes have changed some how, they seem familiar. she could be any other teenager. black jeans covered in paint splatters, a jean vest with the words "_Don't Get too CLose, It's Dark Inside_" painted in red and gold paint on the back, over a red t-shirt, and black low tops.. she has minimal jewelry, from what they can tell it's just a pair of earrings shaped like lightning bolts. she holds her bow out to them, a sign of a truce.

"who are you?" Artemis asks. She hasn't lowered her sword. the girl sighs and sets her bow down. she hold her hands over her head.

"I don't want to hurt you," she says, her voice is warm and bright, shocking considering the solem look on her face," My name is Jania."

"Jania?" Artemis raises an eyebrow. Jania sounded like a horrible fake name.

"My parents are weird," she explains," sorry about…well the arrows. but in my defense, it was self defense."

Jamie groans. Cassie, wonder girl, holds her head like she has a head ache. Robin keeps blinking like he has no idea where he is. Jania says they may want to lay down, the effects will go away after a few hours. the three stumble out of the room. Jania looks sheepishly at the five remaining heros," sorry, conner. sorry, sorry, kaldur and m'gann."

"you said your name was Janis?" conner asks.

"Jania," she pronounces it slowly and clearly. JAN-e-AH.

"Do you have a last name?"

She sighs," you won't believe me. i know you won't."

"Why?" M'gann asks. Jania looks at them and, in three strides, is standing right in front of them. she has a small shower of freckles and an old scar under her left eye.

"If you wanted to know my last name, you would have recognized me by now," she closes her eyes. they all turn to artemis. with her eyes closed, Jania is a spitting image of artemis. the green eyes are now familiar because they are Wally's eyes.

"You're-"

"Not pos-"

"Wally's-"

"My name is Jania West, and i think i'm here to save my dad."

they handcuffed her. well, she insisted that they did. she handed over her arrows and bow and vest for some reason. Weapons, she explains, are whatever she has on hand. they didn't believe her. she doesn't expect them to believe her. she sits infront of the zeta tube and answer their questions.

how did you get here?

"No idea. Magic portal maybe."

who created you?

"surely you know how babies are made." Insert evil smile.

are there more of you?

"I have a big brother, who in my opinion is not as amazing."

where's wally?

this question makes her look up. she doesn't look sad or angry, just curious," you don't know?"

know? know what?

"about the speed force. God, Mom and Dad must have told me and matt about it a billion and seven times," she deepens her voice into a decent imitation of wally's,"'Jania, did i ever tell you about the speed force?' 'yes, daddy.' 'What is the speed force then?' 'the speed force is a world within our own. when you, uncle Barry, and matty flash, you move briefly travel through the speed force.' 'how is it you are so smart.' 'daddy, i'm four. i'm not smart, i'm clever.'"

she hums quietly to herself while they talk a good distance away. Artemis keeps looking over at her. she can feel her throat closing up, making it impossible to breathe.

"I don't trust her." Kaldur says," there is something about her that is unsettling."

"I can't get a read on her," M'gann says.

"You mean… there is nothing going on in her head," Nightwing asks. They look at Jania. She scratches her head and catches them staring. Jania rolls her eyes, like she can tell what they're talking about.

"No, it's like there's something blocking me from reading her mind," M'gann explains," the more indepth things like feelings, memories, fears, i can't access those. however i can tell you, she is unimaginably intelligent."

"So why can't you read her?" Artemis chokes a bit on the words, but passes it off as a cough.

"You know," Jania calls," there's this weird thing called acoustics and thanks to those i can hear exactly what you're saying. so how about instead standing there, you talk to me like the big, good super heroes my mom and dad told me about? one of you being biologically my parent at least should grant me some respect."

"How do we know you aren't lying?"

Jania looks geniunly offended by this question. she stands up and marches toward them, tossing the handcuffs at nightwing," First, you should never put me in standard handcuffs. it is an insult to yourself, the handcuffs, and my skill level. simple hair pin trick. i did warn you that anything i have on hand is a weapon, or in this case a tool. now whoever has my vest please hand it to me," the vest is tossed to her," Now i always have pictures on hand for, well, for whatever. To remember, for luck, in case i'm ever accused of being a weirdo psycho clone."

she pulls five pictures from the left top breast pocket. she smiles at the top one. her eyes soften, and for just a moment they can see the Wally in her. She scowls and hands them the pictures,"here. My parents wrote on a few of these. so...yeah."

the first is a family portait. Jania is younger, thirteen. Her hair is curled and she has her arm around a boy. He looks like wally, windblown red hair with silver eyes. he's a few inches taller than Jania, and lean. He gives Jania a sideways smirk, that she returns with a sarcastic grin. Wally and Artemis, now in their late thirties, smile with pride at the two teens. there is no writing on the back so they go to the next one. Jania's older, the picture more recent. She stands to one side smileing despite the fact she has a split lip and black eye. Matt has his arm around a laughing girl with long black hair, the other arm is in a splint. Black hair girl has a bandage poking out from under her t-shirt. a girl with short red-and-green hair and wild green eyes seems to be supported between two boys, one with a purple mohawk and identical green eyes and a boy with straight black hair and electric blue eyes. three little kids, two little girls with bright red hair and a little boy with black hair, look at the older kids, eyes wide with wonder. they filp it on the back. _Jania's 17th/ Matt's 18th Birthday_. Artemis shows jania the picture," What happened here?"

"oh! well, this was taken the morning of our last birthday. matt and i are an exact year a part, which when we're little and i want a pretty princess tea party, hey i was three, and he wanted a superhero themed party, he was four, parties were hard," She talks unnaturally fast. like each word can't wait for its turn," Any way there was a big mission the night before this was taken and luke and parker," she points to the two boys holding the girl up," were stuck with babysitting. not an easy task when they're watching half aliens. anyway, long story short we nearly died but didn't."

She smiles and tells them to move on. In the next picture jania is a toddler, her short hair tossed over her face. she is a sleep, curled up with Matt, their hands clasped tightly together. Artemis recognizes the blanket tossed on top of them, the same blanket is on her and Wally's bed back home. she turns it over and nearly cries at the sight of wally's hand writing.They didn't fall asleep until we got home and they did a through checking, making sure all our limbs were there and no posion tracks on our arms. I hate that they worry about it. Jania glares at them, maybe because she knew exactly which picture they were looking at, maybe to intimidate them with her insane death glare. they move to the next picture. All their throats close. There, fast asleep with an infant on his chest and a toddler curled in his arm, is Wally West. He's a few years older, a five o'clock shadow on his jaw. artemis feels a few tears roll down her cheeks. He looks so at peace. she turns the picture over and finds her own hand writing. Daddy doesn't stand a chance against the dynamic duo. she flips it over and looks at wally for just a moment longer. She barely glances at the next picture. Suddenly she's holding Jania against the wall by her throat.

'Problem?" Jania asks calmly. Artemis holds up the picture.

"What. The. HELL. Is. This?" Jania gives the picture as quick glance.

"That's you and My dad on your wedding day." That's what it was. Artemis' gold hair had been curled and pulled up half way. the dress was simple not extravagent in any way of the word. Wally held her in his arms, kissing her.

"Why do you have this?" Artemis' voice broke. She didn't even try to hide it.

"I am a seventeen year old girl. I have it because you gave it to me, saying that aside from the days my brother and i were born, it was the happiest day of your life." Jania taps Artemis' wrist," Can you put me down now?"

Artemis sets the girl down," Who are you?"

"I'm your daughter. I was born December 31st, can't tell you what year but that's not important, in Palo Alto. I grew up listening to you and Dad talking about missions. i stayed up late with my brother when you had to go on a mission together. I had-have an aunt named Jade, and a cousin named Lian. I have a horde of other Aunts and uncles that are really just other heroes. i have never gotten below an A in science, i stopped believing in the tooth fairy and santa and the easter bunny when i was four, but i've always believe in magic. My father is Wallace Roudolph West. He disappeared into the speedforce almost twenty two years ago, and you told us that an angel got him out." She closes her eyes, taking a deep breath through her nose," i sure as hell am no angel, but i do want my dad back."

the way she said that last part sounded desperate, like it had been living on her tongue for so long that if it didn't get off now it would choke her. She nervously taps on her watch. it looks like a standard black wrist watch, slim face with a multitude of buttons on the side.

"M'gann, will you stop trying to read my mind!" Jania Snaps," You put the god damn wall in for me, and you are more powerful when you did. trust me it's meant to stay up."

"What?" Everyone stares at Jania. She crosses her arms.

"There was an incident years ago," She waves her hand, showing that it wasn't a big deal. But her voice and eyes betray her. Her eyes darts around the room in a quick, panicked way. Her voice shakes the tiniest bit," Psymon got into my head and- and i don't want it to happen again."

"There's a wall in your head?" Nightwing asks. Jania rolls her eyes.

"Seriously? It is a frigging metaphor. It blocks emotions, well not exactly, but it would take too long for me to fully explain."

"Take it down." Artemis is more supprised at her voice than the others. it's uncharacteristically harsh," You want us to trust you. Take it down.:"

Jania sets her jaw. The two archers glare at each other. She says in a low voice," When i was three years old, my grandfather, Sportsmaster, tried to drown me. i was scared and would have died if my dad and ucle barry hadn't arrived when they did. M'gann, go."

Silence fills the room. Jania winches as m'gann enters her mind. Artemis let's what she said sit in her stomach. If this was her daughter...why did Sportsmaster try to kill her. M'gann clears her throat.

"She's telling the truth. She's Your daughter. Wally is her father."

Jania holds her hands out in a tada way," Congrats, it's a girl."

Jania told them everything about the speedforce. Everything. Her eyes rolled back in her head as she recited stories and statistics and old reports. from what they could tell she had a photographic memory.

"wait," Kaldur says, breaking her performance," As intersting as this is, how do we bring back wally?"

"That's the thing. I have this invention that Dad and i made when i was like ten for a science fair. it's suppose to find lost things, but it kinda almost blew up my elementary school." She sighs," i could rebuild it in a few minutes, but it's been years since i looked at the bluepruints."

"I thought you remembered everything." Conner says

"Words. i remember every story i've ever read, but pictures are fuzzy." Jania sighs," It's on the mainframe of the titan's computer but that's thiry years in the future."

"What can we do?" Artemis has begun to hope that this girl can bring back wally.

Jania pauses, biting her lip. she looks at the ceiling, like she's counting something," Oh, they are so going to kill me."

From her vest pocket, she pulls out a small silver bag. it's two inches wide and five inches long. you couldn't fit a tube of lipstick in there, let alone a communicator. she opens it, sliping her arm up to the elbow into the bag. they hear bottles clink together and jump back when an air horn goes off-"sorry, subtle distractions aren't exactly my forte."- before she pulls out a small bottle. cramming the bag back into her jacket, she holds it up to the light. the liquid is a translucent blue. Jaina pulls the rubber band from her hair, shaking out the long blonde locks as she begins speaking in the same rapid fire way wally once had," Ok, so my friend lila is a witch. she and her twin brother, luke, were working on this potion that took like three months to make, which allows you one wish. it isn't a free wish because nothing is really free. 'all magic comes with a price' and all that shit. but you get to choose what you pay. the higher you pay, the better quality of the wish you get. kind of like a tv, the better stations cost more."

now her hair falls to her waist, in a thick curtain of gold. she uncorks the bottle, pulling a strand of her hair from the top of her head. with the cork wedged in her teeth, she carefully drops the hair into the bottle. She shakes it around, her finger over the top. the potion turns from blue to a thick, deep red, like blood. for the first time since they met her, jania looks queasy. she slips the cork into her pocket.

"to your health," she toasts them," And my exsistance."

she chugs the potion, gagging as it passes over her tongue. jania shudders, swallowing twice so it stays down," That is disgusting. i eat everything, so that is saying something. ok wish time. I wish to have the ability to contact my team from any point in time. in exchange, for every time i call, when i get to my own time i will lose my voice for one day."

nothing. no glowing, or explosions. Jania taps her watch.

"Aren't you going to get out your communicator?" Artemis asks.

"It's right here," She presses a button on the side of her watch. speaking slowly and clearly, jania says," Call Mathew West.'

the face of the watch splits in half as a tiny camera displays a screen. after a second of static, a man answers. he has dark red hair and stormy gray eyes, which were glued to something off screen,"-phie, Parker, Luke! get your asses in here! hello?"

"Hello, big brother," Jania gives him a hard glare that Artemis had given wally a number of times during a fight. the boy, Mathew, gasps.

"Jani! Oh, my god you're ok!"

"Aww now you care."

"Jania, for the ten billionth time, it was a simu-"

"Doesn't matter. besides i didn't call you to scream or swear at you. you know i prefer to do that in person. no, i- wait where's everyone else? i don't want to have to repeat this."

"here. i can't figure out how to send this to everyone else. Soph, a little help?"

from off the screen, the group hears a girl snort," you're hopeless, matt, you know that right?"

there is a flurry of keys being tapped on. the screen splits five ways. a pretty girl with shoulder length black hair and odd green eyes stares from one. from another there is a boy with black hair and very bright blue eyes. there's a girl with red and green hair and a boy with shaggy purple, their eyes identically wild green.

"Sophie," Jania says quickly," Names off!"

none of the adults noticed the thin black letters at the bottom of the screen. the girl with black hair, sophie, types furiously. Artemis gets two words imprinted on her eyelids, Matt West. The girl with christmas styled hair starts crying.

"Jania! i'm so sorry," She sobs.

Jania's expersion changes somehow. it becomes calmer, almost kind. but nothing takes the edge away in her eyes, no matter how soft her voice is," It's ok, Lila. It's actually kind of important that i ended up here."

in about thirty seconds, she has told them everything that has happened in the last hour. her words are a confusing slur of ups and downs. the five teens nod in comperhension and wait until she's done before they ask.

"Jania," Lila asks," How did you make this call?"

"Hehe, well funny story. ummm i used the potion," Five eyes snap toward her.

"Damn it, jania," they say at the same time.

"does this make her more of an idiot than me?" the boy with purple hair asks.

"Shut it, Luke," Jania places her hands on her hips, in a 'listen to me or i'll kick your ass' way," I know it was a stupid decision but it was the only decision. besides you'll notice not one person here stopped me."

"That's because we have no idea what it was," M'gann points out.

"Oh crap, who all is there with you?" Luke asks.

"Uhhhhh, Aunt m'gann, Uncle conner, uncle kaldur, Dick, and my- and artemis."

"Damn," Sophie chuckles," Talk about awkward."

"Wait," Artemis looks at the kids," Aunt m'gann? Uncle conner and uncle kaludur? i'm confused."

"That's what we've always called them. well, Luke and Lila call Dick uncle Dick and Sophie-"

"Shut up, Jania," The girl warns her.

"What does she call me?" Dick asks.

"He'll figure out or i'll tell him,' jania smirks.

"i hate you, you know that, right?"

"I'm your best friend, you can't hate me," Jania smiles. Sophie sighs, muttering about idiots and what sounds like murder threats.

"Daddy," she says after a second, looking at Nightwing," I call you Daddy."

"Wait, what?"

"Ok, you two have like years to talk and i can assure you that, now down to business. Matt, er actually, Soph, can you hack into my laptop and send me a file dated May fifth almost seven years ago."

her friend snorts," Can i hack into your laptop? you know i do that as a warm up on sick days right?"

"And you know i can throw your ass off the tower in a heart beat." the teasing between the two reminds Artemis of, well, Wally and Dick.

"there you go," a file pops up on the screen," hey Jani, what did you end up paying for these calls."

"one day with out my voice for everytime i call." she scowls when they all start laughing.

"Jania," Matt struggles to keep a straight face," you need to call us every hour on the hour-"

"Wait," the dark haired boy gets a weird look that instantly makes his friends lean away,"Jania, can we test the hologram program."

jania slaps her forehead," oh i am such an idiot! i forgot about that."

jania presses a button on her watch, then lowers her arm. the camera adjusts and the room has five more people in the room. it's extremely odd. The boy with black hair and Luke are by conner, both average height and lean. Lila is small, not much taller than five two or five three, and looks more like a gymnast. She and Luke have similar nervous engery, tapping their feet and running a hand through their oddly colored hair. Sophie stands up. she is balnaced on her toes, her arms crossed and a killer poker face. yep, she is Dick Grayson's daughter. Artemis takes a second to study Matt. He's tall and lean, like a runner. _like wally_. no, bad artemis. Don't think like that. Matt catches her staring and smiles. Wally…

"Everyone, these are my friends. Oh and the useless redhead is my big brother," Jania looks at ease for the first time since she's been here," have any of you heard from collin?"

"No. sorry, jani," now she looks stressed.

"So where is your dad? i don't understand the whole speedforce thing exactly," Luke asks. Jania smirks.

"it's like another plane of existance. My dad, Matt, and Uncle barry travel through it when they flash. the world slows down as they speed up. but what happened to Dad is his powers have been, er-"

"Power boosted?" Matt suggests.

"huh, not so useless. yes, power boosted. right now he's trapped in the Speedforce, because he can't figure out how to stop his powers. it's like the transformation This one," She motions to Sophie, who flips off her bestie," and the starbolts everywhere."

all the teens visibly shutter. Luke and Lila both cock their heads to the side at the same time. Lila sighs," Shit, they're up."

"Shit," Sophie nervously tugs on a strand of her hair," Matt, can you get them and-"

"on it," he flashes. in less than six seconds three little kids are in his arms. Two girls with long red hair and a little boy with black hair. one of the girls looks angrier than the other but each was smiling to some extent.

"Jani!" a little girl with the same odd green eyes as Sophie runs at Jania. she jumps up, but phases through Jania. She hovers behind jania, with a confused look on her.

"is she-flying?" Dick asks.

"Yeah," Jania looks at the little girl," sorry, emmy. i'm on an unexpected mission."

The other little girl drops from matt's arms. she rolls before standing up and stubbornly putting her hands on her hips," it's a hologram, emerald. can't you tell by the pixels and the fact our daddy is in the room?"

the flying girl scowls at her sister," I understand that, Sapphire. but i was very excited to see Jania is ok because she didn't read to us last night and i was worried."

"Sapphire, emerald, stop arguing. wait where's richie?" the little boy had disappeared.

"Probably reading." Sophie shrugs," Girls, why don't you two go find richie and play ok? the big kids need to talk. we'll explain everything later."

"Promise?" Sapphire looks at Sophie as if this was a empty sentence.

"cross my heart and hope to zorkaberries." the two girls look at Dick one last time before running out. Sophie sighs," Sorry about that. My little sisters and brother."

"you have three younger siblings?" Dick asks. Sophie laughs. Jesus christ her laugh is exactly like his.

"Triplets. now back to business. Jania, how do you plan on getting back?"

"To be honest, i thought that Parker would randomly just happen to have a time machine on hand." the teens look at the boy with dark hair.

"What's going to happen when i don't have an invention? what will you do then?" He gives them a small side ways smile before sighing," i have been working on the technology but it's not finished. i need at least two days, if i stop to eat and sleep."

"Parker," Jania has a very conflicted look on her face," Normally i would say 'yes! Eat! sleep!' but with everything that's happened in the last six months i honestly think that's the least of our worries. obviously like eat something, because if i find out you decide to stop eating completely because of this i will murder you. but please hurry."

"i'll go get started." He disappears. Lila's eyes suddenly get really wide and her body begins shaking.

"Shit!" Jania exclaims.

"I'm sorry!" Lila starts crying again. it might just be a trick of the light but it looks like her fingernails are growing into claws and her teeth are straightening into fangs.

"It's ok, honey, i got you." Matt picks her up, bridal style," Come on. don't worry, i got you. be back."

he flashes again. Jania and Sophie begin conversing quickly.

"they're getting closer between."

"Think he'll make it? remember what happened last time."

"that was a fluke. i'm pretty sure he'll be fine."

Luke adds his two cents," if they're getting closer between that probably means _he's_ going to show up sooner or later."

"Luke, just hold on, ok? hold on until i get back and i promise we'll figure something out." There is a howl from their end. not a howl of pain. like a wolf howl. The three close their eyes, as if they are waiting for something bad to happen. Matt comes back on screen, holding the side of his neck. blood trickles between his fingers," Matt!"

"I'm fine." Sophie is already beside him, pulling his hand from the wound,"it's not that deep."

"Not that deep my ass," Sophie says. She looks at Jania," Jania, i'm sorry. this needs stitches. please call whenever you can."

"I will. Please make sure my brother doesn't die." Jania presses a button on her watch and the holograms vanish. Jania closes her eyes, takes a deep breath through her nose, and pulls up the blue prints.

"What the hell was going in there?" Artemis asks.

"It's not important. they'll be fine...i hope. we have more pressing matters." she studies the diagram," That explains it!"

"what? this looks like random words and numbers." Conner says aggrivatedly. it was very angering that Jania didn't feel like it was worth a moment to worry about her friends.

"this is meant for something ten times the size of the little bubble i was using. infact," she looks to the zetatubes with an evil gleam in her eyes," i might be able to reroute the wires in the Zetatubes and that should have just enough power to bring him back. this is going to work. It has to."

She got a look on her face that made all of their hearts ache. it was a bright smile that showed all her teeth, her eyes were shining with inteligence and hope. with her hair in her face, she look younger and more like wally than artemis. Dick last saw that smile during the failsafe stimutatlion over five years ago. how could any of them say no to that face?

Jania was fast, they'll give her that. she opened a panel in the last zeta tube and started pulling out wires, cutting with a knife and fusing wires together with a lighter. Artemis stays close by, just to listen to Jania mumble as she works. at times it was a random thought that crossed her mind, but mostly it was swears. Wally often swore when he worked on homework, especially on vietnamise lit. she laughs quietly remembering last valetine's day.

"I hope that laugh isn't directed at me," Jania smiles at Artemis," it's nice to hear you laugh, artemis. huh."

"What? and what do you mean?"

"It's just, i've always called you Mom, or Mommy when i was little, and i'm not use to calling you Artemis. Dad usually called you ,like, my love or honey or babe or his spitfire. And i mean it's nice to hear you laugh. it's just been a long time since i heard you laugh."

Artemis shakes her head," Did something happen in the future to me? and what the hell is a spitfire?"

"A spitfire is a woman with a swift temper. Dad use to say that Kent Nealson told him to find his 'own little spitfire, one who won't let him get away with nothing.'" Jania sighs," and you have been on a- a mission for the last year or so. it's been a while since you last called."

"Oh." that was the only thing she could think to say. Even though she was fully aware that this girl was biologically her daughter, Artemis knew what it was like to have parents that left and never talked to you, and how horrible that was. Jania gives her a reassuring smile.

"Artemis, don't worry about it. You and Wally are really great parents. or you will be. Dammit, i hate time travel." Jania ties two wires together. There is a spark and an explosion. Jania flies out of the Zeta tube, slamming into a rock pillar. She holds her side in pain," Shit that hurt."

"Are you ok?" M'gann asks, flying over. Jania stands up a little to quickly.

"Yeah, just a broken rib. give me a sec to catch my breath." She leans against the pillar, breathing heavliy.

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah give me a week and the rib will be right as rain," Jania walks back to the tube, carfully hidimg her pain. something about what she said doesnt sound right. They've all broken ribs and it takes about a month to a month and a month and a half for them to heal properly," I know what you're thinking. Yes, in normal cases a broken rib takes longer to heal, but i am not normal."

"Said the daughter of wally west," Dick murmurs.

"actually you're right. we aren't sure how, but my body moves about 9 times faster than a normal human's. that means i need about 45 minutes of sleep a night. rocks for me, sucks for you.," She bends down, checking the wires," good news. it's ready."

Artemis feels a trememdous amount of hope rise in her body. this is actually happening. this girl, her daughter, is going to bring Wally back. What would Artemis even say to Wally? would she yell at him for going? would she kiss him until neither of them could feel their lips? would she break down in tears? panic begins to rise. What if it didn't work? what if it did, but it wasn't her wally? what if he didn't recognize her? what if he didn't know anything about her? the only thing that could be worse than losing wally is to get him back, but him no know who she was and not know how much she loved him.

"Ok, i need you all to turn around." Jania says.

"What?"

"Why?"

Jania bites her lip in frustration," It's just something my family did, ok? Whenever we tried to make something for the first time, our parents had us close our eyes. if it worked, it was like seeing the best surprise ever or something like that. if it didn't than at least we had a second to believe it worked. trust me, it takes the sting out of the failures."

M'gann, conner, Kaldur, and Dick look at artemis. She shrugs and closes her eyes. Jania murmurs quietly to herself for a second before the whirling of the zeta tube deafens artemis. Artemis prays to anyone that this works. _please, please, just this one time. i need him. i _need _wally._ the machine whirls for two minutes before stopping completely. Jania sounds defeated," Artemis, i am so sorry-"

"No," she whispers. everything inside her begins to crash. Then Jania continues.

"-But you are going to be stuck with him for the rest of your life." her eyes flew open. Leaning against the zeta tube, his red locks messier than ever, his costume a little looser than it had been six months before, is Wally West. He slowly lifts his head, green eyes meeting her gray.

"Artemis," He says softly, then louder," Artemis. Artemis!"

She runs straight toward him. they meet in the middle. his lips fit perfectly against hers, like they were made for her. Artemis had tears falling freely down her face. it wasn't the first time that day she had cried, it wasn't even the fiftieth time, but it was the first time in a long time that the tears were happy. When they finally broke apart, Wally wipes the tears away from her eyes," there's my beautiful Artemis. I'm sorry i had to leave, babe, but i promise i am never leaving you again."

"DUDE!" They are attacked by their friends. bear hugs, death threats, another kiss, it's the best reunion that artemis could have ever imagined. there is a small crash. They turn and see a red faced Jania looking at the panel she removed to get at the wires clatter on the floor.

"Sorry, i- i didn't mean- i- i have to call my team." She hurries out of the room.

"Who was that?" Wally asks. His hand hold Artemis's tightly, with no intention of ever letting go.

"That would be our daughter," She says it so easily. our daughter no longer leaves a bitter after taste in her mouth.

Wally's eyes grow wide," How long was i gone!?"

"She's from the future," Artemis explains everything. Wally seems to process one thing.

"We have kids?" the smile on his face was so wide that artemis wanted to kiss him.

Jania comes back into the room," I talked to my brother. he actually wants to talk to all of you, now that the 'Where's wally?' game is done."

she presses a button on her watch and the hologram of her brother appears. he has a thick white bandage around his neck, but looks just like he did an hour before. he's wearing what they assume are his pajamas. An green t-shirt over flash pajama pants.

"Hi again," He smiles at each of them," thanks for not killing my sister."

"Matt, tell them what you told me," Jania looks different. hair falls infront of her face, hiding her eyes. her voice sounds thicker than before.

"Um, Parker is finishing up the time watches. they should be done in a few hours. i talked to lila after she calmed down-"

"what happened to her?" M'gann asks.

"She has anger problems and her powers kind of suck at this point. anyway, Lila was with Jania when she got sent to you all. Klarion and Sportsmaster attacked them on the last leg of patrol and lila was trying really hard not to hurt jania. Sportsmaster kicked jania into a portal klarion opened. basically, this was a planned attack."

"But why send her back here?" Wally asks," not that i'm not greatful."

"Portals are very sensitive. when you pass through them, you have to be very careful not to be surpressing strong emotions." Matt explains," this might be the time they meant to send her too, she might have had -"

"it's probably the first one," Jania interrupts. she shoves her hands into her pockets. she quickly draws her left hand out," Ow! sonofa-"

"Didn't they check your pockets?" Matt asks.

"No," carefully she reaches into her pocket and with draws a dart. She meets her brother's horrified eyes," Matt?"

"Jani, it's ok." His voice is shaking too much for anyone to believe that," you'll be ok."

"It's in my blood stream." Her voice breaks," Matt, i'm scared."

"i know, sissy. It's ok," He notices the confused adults," Our psychopath of a grandfather- that was rude. sorry, mom-er Artemis."

"Don't be. it's an acurate description." Artemis is more concerned for Jania. The girl had gone sheet white and was begining to shake.

"there is a serum that is worse than the scarcrow's fear gas, but it has to be injected into the blood stream. it cause horrible halluecnations and panic and anxiety levels rise to dangerous levels." Matt stands in front of her," Jania, Jani, it's me. you'll be ok."

"you betrayed me," She whispers, backing away from Matt," you left me to die."

"no, no, jani. it wasn't like that." she tears the watch off her wrist and throws it across the room. M'gann stops it from being destroyed, so matt's hologram is still pleading with his sister," Jania. it's not real."

"you're lying," she covers her ears," you're lying. leave me alone."

"Jani." Matt looks at the adults and mouths _grab her_," whatever you're thinking it isn't real."

Jania looks up, catching sight of Wally and Artemis. She stumble backwards," no. No, No, NO!"

"Jania Diana West!" Matt's hands pass through her skin as he tries to force her to look at him.

"I'm sorry!" She starts crying," I wanted to help! i'm sorry!"

"Jania!" She runs out of the room, crying. Matt turns to them," Please get her, and whatever you do, do not-"

the image cuts out. They run, hoping to find her before something went wrong.


	2. Chapter 2

**Author's note: Hey, guys. school will be back in two weeks and i will start posting 'the faults in our lives' again. this chapter does comment on people with asperger's. before i get called out, i have asperger's and just put what i would have said. i am really sorry if i offend anyone! Please message me and inform me and i will try not to do it in the future! thanks!**

Chapter two

Jania ran through the hall, terrified out of her mind. she had experienced this before, so the lucid way the walls move and the blinding lights were familiarly painful. She doesn't like this, feeling scared and helpless. Jania turns a corner slamming into a the wall as she ran. There are footsteps behind her. Her parents calling for her. No! She doesn't have parents. they left, just like Matt did. Jania's throat contracts as the twisted image of her brother passes before her. His red hair is swept up out of his eyes, the stormy irises cruel and merciless.

"YOU'RE SUCH A FREAK, JANIA!" He shouts," NO WONDER MOM AND DAD DIDN'T WANT YOUR HELP! YOU NEVER DO ANYTHING RIGHT!"

She presses her hands to her ears. _that's not true_ she tells herself _I do good things right all the time. he's wrong, he has to be._ Jania slams into a wall, stumbling along down the hall. _think, Jani girl. you need to think._ easier said than do at this moment. When you're afraid, it gets harder to focus on tasks. Her heart was racing, which wasn't unusual. her resting heart rate was around 16o, over double what a girl her age should have, but the metabolism sort of balanced it out. Jania stumbles down a hall and finds an empty closet. SHe shuts the door quietly, listening as her parents and aunt and uncles walk by, calling for her. It's beginning to get harder to breath. That's what the damned serum does. it attacks the amygdala, or the emotional center of your mind. it actives fear and scared you to dead, in short. Jania knows this, she's studying to be a nurse so why shouldn't she know this. Jania listens for a moment before sneaking out of the closet. _I need to focus, i need to train._

She has been coming to the Watchtower since she was a baby. Her brother was even born in the medical wing. No! There he is again, this time telling her that lian;s death was all her fault. He describes it in detail- from the gun shots to seeing her grandfather with the gun pointed at her to being pushed to the ground. it had been her sixth birthday. Jania runs down the hall, crashing into the walls. She finds the gym easily, even though her eyesight is beginning to blur. Jania falls through the door, hitting the floor hard. She gets onto her hands and knees, breathing heavily. She senses movement and reacts. While everyone had been reuniting with her father, she had grabbed her bow and arrows. the weapons had once been heavy and felt wrong for her. Now they were a deadly extension of her body. the bow pulls back easily and the arrows were identifiable with the color coded shafts. Jania fires an arrow at the fast moving black blur in front of her. She jumps out of the way as an arrow flies back at her. her ears nearly burst as a screech destroys the ground beneath her. she fires several electric arrows and bodies hit the floor. A force attempts to break into her head. she ignites an arrow and fires it at a green target. there is a red flash and someone pins her to the ground. her bow presses uncomfortably into her chest, making it even harder to breathe.

"Who are you?" A familiar voice demands.

"Un-Uncle barry?" Her vision clears a bit. the flash costume was as awful as ever, but she had never been happier to see them," Uncle barry, it's me. It's jania."

"Jania who?" Jania forgets that she doesn't exist yet or that the league doesn't know that Wally is alive.

"Jania West. Wally's daughter." Barry's vision blurs with tears. it had been six months since his nephew had died, but every night he heard Wally asking him to tell artemis he loved her. now this girl that didn't belong here, who had just attacked several of his friends, was claiming to be Wally's daughter. Barry's hands find her throat. Jania's eyes widen as her breathing stops. She claws at her great-uncle's hands, trying to loosen his grip. She has never been afraid of him. Her greatest fears were killing her family and failing. other than that it is the standard snakes, spiders, and unforeseen accidents. the door opens and someone yells. Barry is pulled off her, held back by her father. Barry sees his nephew and stops fighting. Jania scrambles to her feet and runs to the other end of the room. a wire catches around her ankles. she screams and begins thrashing against the ground.

"NO! LET ME GO! LET ME GO!" Hands gra her wrists and ankles, but she's moving too much for anyone to keep hold of her. She screams again, calling for names that mean nothing to half the people in the room,"Collin! Sophie! Luke! Parker! Lila! HELP! LET ME GO! LET GO OF ME! HELP ME! SOMEONE HELP ME!"

"What the hell is going on!?" Batman demands. Conner, Dick, and Kaldur are struggling to hold Jania down. M'gann places her hands on the girl's temples. In less than ten seconds, jania is still, but her eyes moved around the room, terrified. Artemis says that they'll explain but this girl, Jania, was in danger of herself. M'gann had paralyzed her long enough for Jania to be carried down to the medical center. they place her on a bed and restrain her wrists. they have to sedate her before m'gann releases her mind. Jania looks as if she could be asleep, her hair tossed over her shoulders and head rolling to the left side. The original team informs their old mentors on what has happened so far.

"So, your daughter," Batman motions to Wally and Artemis," was sent back in time, helped to bring Wally back, then was injected with a fear serum, worked her way from the entrance hall to the gym, and attacked five league members under distress."

"in a nutshell yes."

"I'm calling a league meeting," Batman says, shaking his head," It sounds like there is a lot that needs to be discussed."

"That will take at least an hour to get everyone here," Flash notes.

"Then we meet in a hour." The dark Knight turns to wally," There are questions that you'll have to answer."

Wally rolls his eyes," What else is new? All anyone does is ask questions."

This might seem out of character, but Artemis knew that when they retired, Wally was partially frustrated that the sociopathic sadists they caught every day were thrown in jail only to break out and hurt more people. Artemis squeezes his hand as the league members leave to attend whatever league bullshit they had to. The young adults study the sleeping girl. Artemis and Wally exchange a mixed look. both are thrilled that they not only stay together, but have children together. But what if their daughter dies now. How could they bring a child into the world knowing that she will die before she is born? that probably makes no sense.

"Even though see just tried to kill our mentors, she looks so sweet." M'gann says.

"Who do you think Collin is?" Conner asks.

"Enemy?" Dick speculates.

"No, i don't think she would call for him if she was in danger." Jania's face tenses, and she begins to move in her sleep. Passing nightmare, maybe?" A friend or an acquaintance?"

"Maybe a boyfriend?"

"Whoever he is, he must be important. Do you notice she didn't call for her brother?"

"Yeah, what did she say? 'you betrayed me' or something like that."

"What do you think that she's hiding from us?" Artemis asks.

"How do you know she's hiding something?" M'gann asks.

"She lies like i do. She looked at men, but wouldn't meet my eyes and she brushed off any questions for details."

Wally chuckles," I guess the saying 'like mother, like daughter' comes to play. If she's hiding something, maybe when she's better, she'll talk."

"No," artemis says," If she lies like i do, than she knows better than to talk to people that she doesn't trust."

"You've told me your secrets," Wally notes.

"I trust you." She smacks his arm as he gives her a goofy smile," Don't make me regret that."

"no, mom, i can help," Jania mumbles.

"No way. She has enough sedation to put an elephant to sleep." Dick shakes his head.

"She did tell us that her body processes nine times faster than a normal human." Kaldur reminds him.

"Even then, a normal dose knocks a normal human out for at least two hours."

"Under normal circumstances, don't people throw up under sedation?" Wally asks. Artemis nods," if her body works nine times faster, than doesn't she need to eat more often?"

They consider this for a moment. Wally ate around 8,000 calories a day. If being a speedster was genetic (they were going off Bart, Barry's grandson from the future who was in the same boat as Jania for the moment, as they have no idea if Matt had powers) than what if an overactive metabolism was genetic.

"She's so young." Artemis says to break the silence.

"Dad," Jania mumbles," I am not a baby anymore.

"Actually she's older than most of us were when we started fighting crime." Dick says.

"No, she's been at this for a while," M'gann informs them," She's been training since she was a little girl."

"What?" Wally asks," How little?"

"She still had part of her memories blocked. she gave me enough to verify her identity, but i sensed a lot of repressed memories." M'gann says," But if i would have to guess, five, maybe six."

They look at the teen. Conner says what is on all their minds," What the hell happened to her that made her want to fight crime at five years old?"

League meets were common now a days. since the Light and the Reach were defeated, more villains have been attacking or breaking out of prison. The stress of balancing a normal human life and a hero life has taken its toll on many young heroes. There are many tired faces that brighten when Wally enters the room. There is a lot of hugging and backslapping before the meeting is called to order.

"As you all are aware, Wally West has returned. However the circumstances in which he has returned are why we are here." Batman looks to Dick. Dick holds up Jania's watch.

"This belongs to a girl who is from the future." He begins.

Robin raises an eyebrow," Another time traveler? Is this the ideal time period to come and fix?"

"For family it is," Bart grunts.

"The girl is part of your family actually. Her name is Jania West."

"Jania…." Bart frowns," Sorry, name doesn't ring a bell."

"In short, she's my daughter." Wally says.

"Is she dangerous?" Wonderwoman asks. several heroes who had seen her fight nod.

"Not so much dangerous as defensive." Dick answers.

"Where or when is she from?"Superman asks.

Artemis had taken Jania's silver bag and her weapons, remembering what she said about weapons and her friends asking if they checked her pockets. Artemis pulls one of the pictures Jania showed them earlier out and passes it around to the heroes. It was the one of her and her friends on her birthday," She says she was born in Palo alto, and that for her, wally disappeared over twenty two years ago. She mentioned an older brother."

"More kids." Robin looks at the picture.

"This is dangerous. we have no idea if these children are good or evil." J'onn says.

"What options do we have?" Wally asks," Kill her? Lock her away? Or find a way to help her?"

Bart places his hand on his cousin's shoulder," Dude, even if we could find a way to send her back, the technology we would need is years away-"

_knock, knock, knock_. The League and younger heroes turn to the door. _knock, knock, knock._

"Matt, do you really think that will work?" A girl's voice floats through the door.

"It's better than kicking it down." A boy answers her.

"Who needs to kick anything down?" they hear tumblers in the lock click and the door opens," Lock picking works just as well."

Two teens step into the room. They are in the picture. The girl has her black hair pulled into a ponytail and odd green eyes. The boy's red hair is swept up out of stormy gray eyes. They could be any teens based on their clothes. Her leather jacket covers her purple blouse, black skinny jeans tucked into ankle boots. He's dressed like he's coming from sports practice. Basketball shorts, a dark green t-shirt, a backpack thrown over his shoulder, and sneakers. But they were in space so they didn't just sneak in off the street.

"Huh. Uncle Tim was right, the alarms in this place- oh there they go." The girl looks at the adults," you really should look into fix the time delay on those alarms. i would suggest rewiring the heat sensors but not everyone here has the same body temperature, so that would be idiotic and cause a lot of injuries."

Heroes jump up and have weapons drawn. A breeze fills the room, weapons are pulled out of hands, and the boy dumps the weapons at his feet. He smiles at them," Trust me, i'm faster than you would believe."

The girl gives him a funny look," Matt, that's awful."

"Sophie, ninety percent of our parents' one liners were awful. i am going to look for my sister." The door slams shut as Flash traps them inside," Or not."

"Who are you?" Batman asks.

"Wait are we being rude?" Matt asks Sophie.

"No, well kinda, but it's justified because we are thinking of Jania."

"Jania?" Wally asks. Matt snaps his head to Wally and Artemis. He smiles brightly.

"Hey, dad- wait don't exist yet. Jesus this is a bad episode of doctor who." He sighs," Sorry. My name is Mathew, Mathew West, but everyone calls me Matt. This is-"

"Sophie Grayson. Well legally, it's Mar'i sophie grayson, but i go by my middle name. I'm a friend of Jania and Matt's." She folds her arms," Speaking of Jania, where is she? We need to administer the antidote to her."

"Antidote?" Batman asks.

"Believe it or not my little sister isn't a raving lunatic most of the time. she was injected with a fear serum that my psychopathic grandfather discovered. Well, discovered is not the right word. More like he and scarecrow teamed up in order to kill heroes in gotham and they found injecting the fear serum works faster than gas." Matt smiles like a child that won a contest. Something seemed a little off with him.

"The Serum is lethal after a few hours because the heart is beating faster than normal, and Jania's heart beats twice as fast as it should, so the effects of the serum work faster. under normal circumstances the victim has twelve to sixteen hours. Jania and Matt have about-"

"five to seven hours. If we're in one place and not running around like a looney toon."

"ER, We have her under control." Batman informs them. Sophie narrows her eyes.

"What do you mean- Is that her bow?" Sophie asks. Matt flashes and is holding his sister's weapons. he inspects the bow.

"this is her's, she always carved her initials on the grip bit here. i don't see her arrow so she must still have those." Matt tosses the bow to Sophie.

"they have her bag… wait did you check her pockets?" Sophie looks at Nightwing. He nods," What about her shoes?"

"What about them?"

"what do you mean you have her under control?" Matt asks. his eyes widen," You didn't restrain her, did you?"

An uncomfortable silence follows. A dark look passes over the Young man's face. there is a whirling from outside.

"Access granted," a computerized female voice announces.

"SHIT!" Sophie leaps to the door," Move, Barry!"

"It's locked." He moves over to let her at the door. she brings her foot back and kicks the lock in. the heavy doors open easily. Older heroes follow the two teens. A zeta tube is smoking as they enter. The girl runs to the small electronic stand beside it.

"Damn it! Jania smashed the screen." She pulls a cord from her watch and attaches it into the broken screen," Hopefully she didn't remember how to activate the self destruct-"

"You're hoping Jania, who specializes in destruction and has a photographic memory, doesn't remember how to activate self destruct." Matt scoffs

"Shut up. Crap she remembered." Sophie presses a button on her watch. It grows into a keyboard, attaching to her arm. she begins furiously typing away.

"Would either of you like to explain what is going on?" Batman grunts.

"Uh, Jania was able to activate a hidden program that one of the Robins- i think it was Sophie's dad- installed when he was younger. it was in case of an emergency. an emergency zeta for anyone in the tubes and if they remembered the code, they can self destruct the zeta tubes. Sophie has to hack into the mainframe and be more clever than the program." There is a loud beep.

"What was that?"

"Me being more clever than Jania and the program." Sophie Looks at Matt," you should do a quick check, see if you can find where Jania was."

He's gone less than ten seconds. In ten seconds, his dark expression is now a hardened glare. in his hands, is the restraints that they had on Jania's wrists and a pen knife. All the heroes know that an angry Artemis is bad. Many know an angry Wally is bad. This young man is possible their child. If glares were genetic, he has the perfect combination of his mother and father's glares.

"Jania cut threw her restraints," His voice had lost the joyful undertone. you can say he's seething without reaching too far," She was terrified out of her mind and you tie her down like a mental patient."

"Matt," Sophie steps toward him.

"No, They tied her down when i told them not to."

"Matt, you said the call ended. they may not have heard i-"

"You're defending them? You're defending _him_?" Matt fums.

"You know i will never defend him, but Jania afraid is a bad thing. she could have hurt someone. or herself." Sophie responds. She grabs his arm," They were just doing what they thought best."

"Now you sound like you're defending them."

"Hi," artemis waves a hand at the teens," Would you like to share with the class?"

"may i go to the bathroom first or should i have gone during break," He snaps. Sophie squeezes his arm tightly, making him wince.

"Sorry," She releases his arm.

"it's fine," Matt closes his eyes and takes a deep breath," I'm sorry. I'm being rude, but Jania is my baby sister. If she dies. it's my fault."

It was decided that the two would talk to a smaller group as many heroes were confused and would have wanted to know their own futures. Sophie straight out refused to speak to Batman, her arms crossed and face stuck in what matt informed them was the "Scary Grayson face". Kaldur, M'gann and Conner questioned the kids as Wally, Artemis, and Dick stood in the room. It did not end well. Matt had jumped up and yelled for wally to stop tapping.

"Matt," Sophie orders," Go into the hall and take a minute. Go."

He obeys her instantly, rubbing his neck nervously and mumbling apologies. Sophie turns to the adults,"He's not crazy, just so you know."

"Then why-?"

"The over reaction," she sighs," Matt has Asperger's Syndrome. it's a form of autism. He doesn't get social cues and his senses are much sharper. it explains a lot, but he is a really sweet guy. one of our better fighters."

"Who's the best?" Wally asks.

"That title belongs to your daughter. There's a rule that we have when it comes to training and fighting. it doesn't matter who you are, or what my feelings are towards you, if you are trying to hurt me or anyone i care about, you are going down. Jania takes that to heart." Sophie tugs on a strand of her hair," Matt's been freaking out for three days about Jania being here. he's combed through every league report in this year."

"Three days?" Wally asks.

"It's only been a few hours," Dick informs her.

"Time travel is a tricky thing. Matt and Jania love Doctor Who, so i have heard every single theory known to man about time travel. My mother is an alien and i have had a less confusing time understanding her than my best friend or my- other best friend. trust me, time travel is not a new concept to anyone that lives in the tower." Everyone notices the small take back, but Sophie moves on," Matt's just angry and confused because Jania is pissed at him for this stupid simulation."

"What simulation?" All their minds flash back to the failsafe years ago.

"It's a psychological simulation, like what would happen if we weren't superheroes. It was not pretty. Jania wouldn't talk to him for two weeks and every time someone brought it up, they had a knife thrown at them."

"Jesus."

"Matt and Jania West are the two stubbornest, prideful assholes you will ever meet. They bicker over everything, and i mean everything, but at the same time i have never seen a brother and sister more loyal or in sync with each other. i've known them for almost five years now and," She smiles to herself," Our friends Luke and Lila are twins, and I swear to god, Matt and Jania are more connected than them and they have never spent a day apart."

"What about your brother and sisters, i think jania said they were triplets…" Sophie chuckles lightly.

"My brother and sisters don't act like they came from the same parents. Sapphy is a hot head, Emmy is a people pleaser, Richie… doesn't really talk all that much. he likes being alone, i know that. They're three and a half and already fight over everything."

"So do matt and Jania," Artemis points out.

"No, there is a difference between fighting and bickering among siblings. Bickering is over small issues that aren't really important or can be dealt with in that moment. fighting is more you insulting them on issues and emotions that you've repressed for a certain amount of time. there is a huge difference."

"you said that you've known them for five years, do you mean since you were five…" Something just doesn't seem to add up.

"no, it will be five years next august."She looks at her watch," I should find matt. He's probably freaking out. Do you all trust me to find him without blowing up anything?"

they let her go. But wally has one question," Er, Sophie, Who's collin?"

She turns to him," Her boyfriend. He's in Mexico, visiting family. Why? did she mention him?"

"sort of." Sophie leaves the adults to talk amongst themselves.

"This is weird." Dick says," We should say that right now, because this is really really weird."

"Now we know how barry and bart felt." Conner shakes his head," i am getting a headache trying to keep up with their story."

M'gann chimes in," I was able to pull a few memories from these two. they match several that i was able to get from Jania. It feels very odd to think about the future."

"Why?" Wally asks," All anyone does is think about is the past or the future."

"Well, when people talk about the future, it's unplanned and can go in a thousand ways or more. Knowing that you are going to have children or going to work a certain job, it's weird."

"I have four kids," Dick says with a bewildered look," and i have no idea who with."

Wally gives him side glance," There is a chance my daughter is going to die before she is born. God, they're right this does sound like an episode of Doctor Who."

"It could be worse," Artemis shrugs," It could be the first five minutes of supernatural."

"I believe that we should see this as a positive thing," Kaldur says," The life of a hero is unplannable. knowing that there is some certainty in the future should be comforting."

"I guess, but isn't knowing about the future is also a bad thing. somethings are meant to be unknown. If we knew how our futures were going to play out than there is nothing left to get excited about or to be surprised. the phrase 'expect the unexpected' wouldn't exist," Wally gives Artemis an odd look," What? I had to take a philosophy class."

"is anyone else getting a headache from trying to figure this shit out," Wally rubs his head.

"Wally, are you ok? You don't seem like yourself." Artemis places a hand on his cheek so he has to look her in the eyes. Jesus, he loved her eyes. they change colors when they were walking through Palo Alto, from sky blue to green like fresh grass. they're tinted red, from months of crying maybe? In truth, he doesn't know if he's ok. Six months of being in the speedforce had left him drained, both emotionally and physically. His hands had been shaking since they left the zeta tubes to look for Jania. He isn't ok because he wanted to leave this life, to go to college and spend his life with the woman he loves. But when Dick called and told them about his plan, he and Artemis fought for a week on who would go. Artemis had grown up learning to be an assassin so she would be better equipped to live in that situation. Wally was stubborn. He said that there was no way in hell he was going to lose her a second time. Obviously she had won that fight. Their last night together was spent holding each other, not talking because if either of them said anything it would have ended badly. Having to act like she was dead was the worse thing in the world. He remembered how it felt when she died in that damn simulation and the only thing that could bring tears to his eyes when others expected him to be sad was think _you are the fastest boy in the world, but you were too slow to save her_.

Wally places his hand on hers," Fine, babe, just tired. it's been awhile since i ate last."

"Well three hours ago you weren't even here so i think that's justified."

"Wait, what?" Matt and Sophie stand in the doorway, their eyes wide. He has his mother's eyes, Wally notes. Sophie has her hands over her mouth.

"What's wrong?" Artemis asks.

"Are you sure it's been three hours? Like since Jania got here to now has been three hours?" Matt ignores her question.

"Yeah, about, why?"

"Shit. Matt, Did she eat before going on patrol with Lila?" Sophie turns to him.

"i think, it was a few days ago. Soph, this is really really bad."

"I know, matt, i need to think. Where would Jania go if she was afraid?" The two had slipped into a world where the adults didn't exist.

"Visit Lian, but Lian is a toddler now. Uh," He closes his eyes," Maybe to see our grandmother."

"Maternal or paternal?"

"Mom's mom. But she died when we were little. Sorry, Mom-Artemis. GAH! Sophie, her body is going to start is going to start eating itself any minute."

"What?" It's wally who asks this, because Artemis is frozen.

"Jania and i have really effed up metabolisms, and it's really hard for us to put on excess weight. we did a test on dummies once to see how long we could go without food before our bodies start breaking down muscle. that was about four hours and thirty seven minutes. They start shutting down organs at five hours."

"Matt, where does your grandmother live?"

"South Gotham," Artemis tells Sophie. TO matt, she asks," What happened to your grandmother?"

"She passed away. I'm sorry. i shouldn't have brought it up. Sophie, do you think you can pinpoint Jania?"

"I read up on a few league reports around this time but nothing about us or Jania. I didn't think to look at any cities."

"I might have something." He reaches for his backpack. he pulls out what looks like a computer.

"My Laptop!" Sophie takes it from him, and plants a kiss on his cheek," Great thinking ahead."

She sits at the table and begins to type furiously. Matt has a rather smug smile on his face, maybe from being clever or for thinking ahead. Dick, Wally, and Artemis were really shocked that Sophie had kissed Matt, even if it was on the cheek. Matt leans over her right shoulder, pointing at the screen so his arm drapes over her left," Right there. South gotham warehouse break in. police found blood and signs of explosives. none of the blood matched anyone in the database and the case went cold eighteen years this upcoming january. Jesus the irony."

"How do you know that's Jania?" M'gann asks.

"because there is another police report of a girl being blown into a office building across the street. witnesses say she was a teenager, with blonde hair, green eyes, and her clothes were torn and she was bleeding severely from cuts to her arms, legs and torso. Several heroes arrived on the scene and it is presumed the girl got medical attention or passed away." Matt looks at them with a small smile. then very calmly, he says," When we find out whoever has my sister, i am going to kill them."

Jania wakes up with her vision clear and her head pounding. her breathing was back to normal and her heart rate normal-ish, so someone must have given her the antidote. She blinks twice and attempts to brush hair from her face. that's when she's aware of the chains around her wrists and she's hanging two inches in the air. She instantly tries to escape. Jania twists her arms to grab the chains, pulling herself up. She pulls a hair pin from her hair and begins to pick the lock. the pin begins to burn causing her to drop it. She looks up with a sour glare.

"ALRIGHT, KLARION, YOU SON OF A WHORE! LET ME GO OR I SWEAR TO GOD I WILL RIP YOU APART!" She yells. The witch boy emerges from the shadows petting his cat, teekl. Jania had never ever had a greater urge to kill a creature than when she saw that damned cat.

"oh, lookie who we have." He said in his high pitched sing song voice.

"eat me, douchedick." She spat,"Let me go and i may not skin your cat."

"Now why would we do that?" a deep voice grunts.

"I swear to god if the next hour is just people emerging from the shadow, i will rip these chains from the ceiling and destroy everyone in the immediate vicinity." Several people walk out of the shadows. She recognizes all of them. Joker, with his crazy ass smile. Jania thought for a second about killing him. normally she can't stand killing, but she could fix an entire family by killing this bastard. of course there was her grandfather, Sportsmaster, and Vandal Savage," Wow, i didn't know this many egos could be in the same room."

"She is definitely your granddaughter." Savage chuckles.

"Yeah and i made a promise that when i found him i was going to kick his ass." She tries to pull on her chains. there is a deep burning sensation as a deep cut forms on her wrist. Her left wrist. Her eyes harden, because she knows the spot that the blood is coming from. She isn't proud to admit this but when she was younger, she cut herself. it was a few years before she met her friends and to this day is one of her biggest regrets. she has plenty of scars on her body, but those were the only ones that she wanted to cover. of course Jania had had a bracelet that Lian, her cousin, gave her shortly before she died. like five minutes before. But that douche Dean Winchester burned the bracelet. he did save her life, but she liked her friends to think she hated people. it made them less likely to question her ability to take sides.

"Nice to see that a hero's brat can still be messed up." Joker cackles.

"Shut up, Bozo the psychopath," Jania looks at savage," I take it Caveman here is the one in charge. so tell me, how the hell do you know who i am and why you want me and how long you plan on keeping me here and when i can kick you friggin' ass?"

Savage laughs, before approaching her. Jania could smell death on him. a lot of people would disagree that death has a smell, or they'll think it's something like decaying flesh. Death smells like rotting flowers. sickly sweet. She sets her jaw.

"I have more plans going on than you would imagine. When you are as old as i am, you learn to be patient." He smiles cruelly.

"So when i am old as dirt, i'll learn patience. and here i thought my mommy and daddy were suppose to teach me that before i could wipe my own ass." Jania feels another scar open and send blood racing down her arm," either answer my questions or kill me."

"I figured that the young heroes would one day have children. i had klarion send a message back in time to myself. explaining who you were and when i was to send klarion and Sportsmaster after you. I must say your mother was fairly young when she had your brother, Matthew, is it?" Jania glares at him," Of course i know how this meeting will turn out already, but that works to my favor."

"Why me? I don't have powers and my family is technically not even that cool when it comes to superheroes." Jania pulls back when he pushes her hair out of her face," Touch me again and i will rip your face off."

"Feisty, just like your mother." Jania spits on him, earning a sharp slap to the face.

"Never talk about my mother. or my family, in general. Now, why the hell did you want me?"

"To send a message. My future self told me that you are one of the most feared and respected hero."

"yeah, first if you had contact with your future self why didnt you have him tell you everything that happened. second you could have attacked in my own time and saved us all a massive headache. third, why is the clown and witch boy laughing at me like i am an idiot?"

Klarion comes closer to her," We know about your daddy disappearing. So we figured if anyone was going to be able to bring that loser back, it would be his brat."

"You have now confirmed it. I am going to skin your cat and shove an arrow so far up your-" A gag covers her mouth.

"Much better. To answer your question, it might have been easier to simply tell myself how plans work out, but i would never get my message across," He grabs her throat, forcing her to meet his lifeless black eyes," No matter who or where you are, we will find you and destroy you."

Jania says something against the gag. Savage removes the gag," You don't scare me. you have never scared me, even when i was little. You think you can break me, i would love to see you try."

"My dear, why do you think you're here." Savage turns away from her," You can tie her to the chair now."

"Hey, Savage, just a little fyi. My parents are going to find out what you'll end up doing to me. I may not exist yet, but you should never mess with their babies." Jania gives him an inside joke look," you think i'm feared and respected, you should have figured out who i learned it from."


	3. Chapter 3

**Author's note:** **Hey guys. so this is the last chapter. *cries loudly* but i have an idea for sort of origin stories, like starting with matt and ending with the twins. i'm gonna skip collin's story. no worries, i have another story planned with him and jania and a night under the stars together. * hint hint, wink wink* But a lot of people question why i have Beast Boy and Raven together and i figure it would be cool to show how each child grew up and what influenced their choices to be heroes. Then there is some stuff with the triplets that i plan to do after the Faults in Our Lives. Why after you ask? In the words of River song. 'spoilers'. Comment. favorite. Message me. Peace out, awesome readers.**

Chapter Three

there was blood everywhere. Jania's arms were held out like she was trying to balance on a beam. Her favorite t-shirt is cut up and there's blood on her stomach. there were lacerations on her legs and thighs. She had been screaming for the last hour, but the gag made it impossible for anyone to hear her. Jania could feel her body breaking down her muscle and she knew if she didn't get something, anything, to eat, she would be dead in less than fifteen minutes.

"Oh come on, little girl. we're not done yet." Joker twirls a knife in a hand. She yelps something against her gag," What? Do you want to say something or try and bite me again?"

It take a lot of effort but she gets the message across that it's the first option. He punches her lower abdomen, making it impossible to breathe before removing the gag," I need food."

"sorry, but we're not done." She turn her head away.

"I need to eat every five hours or my body shuts down. Something tells me Vandal wouldn't like to know that you killed his messenger after an hour. And we both know what happens to people who disappoint him." She looks into the clown's eyes and sees a flicker of fear in his eyes. She smirks earning a hard punch to her throat. She gags, the foul taste of bile rises in her throat.

"Fine. But first, a little fun." Joker wipes the blood from her elbow to her wrist. He grabs a breaking knife. It's a knife more often used in the kitchen for breaking large pieces of meat into smaller cuts. Jania closes her eyes tight when he touches the tip to her arm," How do you spell your name again? Oh yes. J."

Jania grits her teeth to keep from screaming as he carves a bloody J into her skin. Jania remembers talking to Sophie about him doing the same thing to her when she was three. They had been comparing scars with Lila on a girl's night. _yes, good Jania. Think of that. forget the pain, think of your friends._ Girl's night was mostly chinese food and locking themselves in Sophie's bedroom, leaving the boys to handle the triplets. They watched crappy superhero movies, complained about their boyfriends/brothers, and exchanged stories on how they got their many many scars. Sophie and Lila were the first girl friends that she'd ever had. Well she had this friend, margaret, but it turns out Margaret was evil. Like she could become electricity and Jania had felt like an idiot for figuring it out too late. Sophie and Lila were awesome. They couldn't talk to other girls their age because no one wanted anything to do with heroes. And living with that many boys, they learned more about shitty pick up lines (Luke) and cars (parker) and sports than they learned about whatever the hell girls their age were suppose to learn about. But they loved each other and, even though they sometimes regret not choosing to live normal lives, they wouldn't trade their friendship for anything in the world.

"T. There, now that wasn't so bad." Joker laughs before leaving the room. Jania looks at her arm. Think bloody letters spell out **JANIA WEST**. There is so much blood. Her throat burns as stomach acid comes up. She has to get out of here. She's tied to what feels like a broken dentist's chair. the bottom leg recliner bit, whatever the hell it's called, isn't there. this worked to her advantage. they didn't tie her legs down. Jania always keeps a knife in her shoe, but she used that to escape the watch tower. But she was a professional superhero so of course she keeps a second one in her other shoe. No she's not a mary sue, but paranoia is second nature at this point. Jania has to swing her leg up into an uncomfortable position for her to reach it. She reaches it and saws at the ropes. She is in no physical way a speedster. But doctors and specialists have run numerous tests on her, and assess that her reaction time is seven times faster than normal. they threw tennis balls at her and she caught every single one. they did MRI scans on her neurons and tested her using different stimuluses. This gave Jania a distinct advantage. So the instant she felt the rop begin to fray, she pulls as hard as she can. When she pulls the rope off her left arm, she cuts the ropes to her right arm and races to the catwalk ladder. No time to lose, She can hear Joker walking back. In the catwalk, she quickly assesses her injuries. Her clothes are ruined at this point so she removes her shirt, wrapping it in half quietly and wrapping it around her arms. Jania wraps her arms around her legs, pressing the fabric tightly against her chest and hiding in the shadows. Her jeans become uncomfortably warm and wet with blood.

"WHERE IS SHE?!" Jania jumps. Vandal must have been the one to walk in. Jania stood still, hoping that he didn't look up. Not that she gave a damn about people seeing her sports bra (that came with the job. Lack of privacy, not losing her clothes), but there was no way in hell she was going to be able to fight any of them," KLARION!"

"I got her," A voice giggles behind her. Jania Catwalk began to shake as Sportsmaster, Savage and Joker Join the fun. She's Trapped, with nothing more than a pen knife and running on nothing. This is without a doubt the worse situation she has ever been in, just hands down the worst and it isn't even an over exaggeration. She looks around for anything, a way out or a weapon. She sees her grandfather swing his medicine-ball-on-a-chain, that's what her mother called it a lot, and flies into a window. the glass shatters and Jania lays in pain on the floor. She's going to die. that's the only fact she can process. she is going to die, with her brother thinking she hates him and her parents missing. She feels vibrations in her cheek as someone comes closer to her. She remembers reading about 'the surge' in a medical textbook when she was about nine or ten. It's like this burst of energy where you get better before getting much worse. Jania feels some strength return to her muscles. in the long run that's bad, but she's thinking short term right now. She pulls herself up.

"It's almost impressive how fast you can get up after being hit. Much better than my worthless daughter," Sportsmaster grunts,"Let me guess? She's as bad a mother has she is a daughter."

"My mother is worth ten times as much as you were, you bastard. And she taught me the single most important thing in the world."

"When to run?" He's three feet away now,"Love?"

"no. You have a bad left knee." Jania throws the knife at his knee. He yells in pain as the blade sinks into his skin. Jania climbs out the window, ignoring the glass cutting her hands, and jumps forward. Everything slows down for one second. This is what flying feels like. No one pulling your arm almost out of socket or talons digging into your armpits. For one second, she feels the icy wind on her skin. her hair flies around her face, gold and red. she's flying! god, she's slipping into hysteria already. then the second is over, and gravity kicks in. For a second she flew, but now the fall will kill her. The explosion comes from a foot and a half behind her. The causes her skin to blister and sends her into the building across the street. Glass shatters. Jania hears people screaming and yelling. They begin to crowd around her. Her chest rises and falls slowly. it hurts to breathe. everything hurts at this point. Someone asks for her name and who did this to her. his voice sounds far away and underwater.

"EVERYONE, GET BACK!" a familiar voice shouts.

"GIVE HER SOME ROOM!" yells a second. Jania is gently pulled into someone's lap. She looks up through her eyelashes. Messy red hair and kind grey eyes. A gentle hand brushes glass and blood from her sides and face. his voice breaking, her big brother whispers," Sorry it took so long to get here, Jani. they had to interrogate us."

"Speedforce, she's bleeding."

"I can see that, Nightstar." He looks at the crowd of people around them," Does anyone have a jacket they don't mind giving up?"

A jacket is pressed to her stomach. Her brother is warmer than usual, so he must have flashed here. Jania smiles lightly, remembering when they were little and use to sleep in their parents bed during missions. He would hold her in his tiny arms, not letting her see the tears in his face. He was always more scared than she was. He didn't know that she could feel the tears on her hair and would ask him to hold her tighter because she was afraid so he could feel braver. Cold hands are resting lightly on her torso. the fingers are long and slender, and the palms are soft. Sophie.

"Honey, i'm so sorry about this." Her hands heat up. Jania's flesh begins to burn. She screams in pain as the cuts are closed. Matt holds her tighter as Sophie moves to her wrists. Jania cries into her brother's chest as the skin is closed. Sophie swear in a language that only jania understands. She must have seen her left arm," That son of a bitch. This needs stitches. if i try to close it, there might be damage to muscles that i could make worse. She needs food."

"I'll get her back to the tower." The coat is slipped onto her. it's a man's coat. She smells liquor and cheap cologne. Matt picks her up, bridal style. He holds her protectively, just like when they were little.

"Jani, you're going to be ok," Sophie whispers to her best friend as she adjust the jacket over her middle section. To Matt, she says," Get there fast."

"Of course." He's gone, leaving with a small wind. Sophie walks to the window, ready to meet artemis and dick in the warehouse, when someone stops her.

"What's your name?" they ask. Normally she would have answered with 'sophie grayson' because many heroes in her time didn't give a rat's ass about secret identities or superhero costumes. There was no point. Sophie answers, with a sour taste in her mouth as she says it," Nightstar."

She turns as flies out of the window, a passing image of her father throwing her into the air before catching her and tickling her stomach. Dick Grayson looks like he wanted to throw her alright, but into a wall. Sophie sighs to herself. She shouldn't take it personal, she knows. He doesn't know her yet. He doesn't have a single memory of her, but she has thousands. Nightstar is actually a nickname he gave her when she was a baby. Her real name, Mar'i, is tamaranian for star. She started showing signs of her alien abilities when she was a couple of months old. She always giggled when her father would recreate the look of shock when he told her that one day he went into her room to check on her and found his baby daughter napping on the ceiling. She looked more like her father, with black hair that had a tiny purple glow to it, and was incredibly nimble once she started to walk. The nickname stuck until she forbids anyone to call her that. she was about ten and a half. Being here now, with a father that didn't even know her, she would have given anything to hear him call her is little nightstar again and tickle her neck when Sophie rolled her eyes. She lands behind the warehouse, picking the lock in fifteen seconds. Sophie turns, not even startled when Nightwing appears behind her in that time. Artemis is four steps behind him.

"Is Jania…" Artemis raises an eyebrow at her. Sophie didn't get to spend time with Artemis growing up, didn't even know that she lived in Jump city. Don't think that the kids didn't interrogate their parents after they met. Their parents did admit to know about the kids, but thought it safer for them not to meet until they were older. Matt and Jania always talk about how kind their mother was, how she would let them help make dinner, and kissed them good night. Sophie can see that in her right now.

"She had a lot of cuts and it looks like she was tortured, but she'll live." Sophie informs her. Artemis relaxes a little," Matt has her and they are on their way to the watch tower. Given a particular cut on her arm, i can tell joker is in here."

"What cut? How do you know it was joker?" Nightwing doesn't look impressed.

"He wrote her name in her left forearm," Sophie turns away from them, acting like she was looking at the door for forced entry," He did the same thing to me. We should go in."

They enter. Artemis feels like a water buffalo compared to the Graysons. Nightwing has learned to walk silently from Batman since he was nine. Sophie seems to put the bare minimum amount of pressure on her feet, moving slowly. She looks uncomfortable. either with Nightwing or her suit, it's hard to tell a difference. The outfit is a skirt that hit her fingertips, a shirt that hung low on her shoulders, and knee high boots. they were all black with a purple trim. she had on gray tights, swearing under her breath about perverts looking up her skirt while she flew. Artemis notices they have many of the same habits, looking over their shoulders every few seconds and one hand on their waists, ready to pull something from the utility belt he had. Sophie points out the small room to the side. She has them watch the door as she tries to pull something from the security tapes.

"Where are they?" Artemis asks him.

"Joker is a pretty big coward. depending on who was here, they probably left the second Jania escaped." Nightwing says," How are you holding up? it's been a really weird, with Wally and the kids and all."

"Fine. I am beyond thrilled that Wally is back. it is really weird to see my kids before they're born, but i think you can relate to that."

"Hm."

"You can't ignore her. m'gann said that she was your daughter."

"Let's not talk about this now," he says coolly. there was no getting to him. Artemis could relate, clearly, to the future kids. overall they all had parent issues. Artemis grew up with a verbally and emotionally abusive father and a mother who was in jail most of her childhood. Nightwing's parents were killed when he was nine. for those two, the idea of being parents had crossed their minds many times.

"Hey, i got a video off the cameras. i'll have to edit the lighting and see if i can get some audio, but," She sighs," We can cross of Jania being here on accident off the list. Klarion and Sportsmaster were here."

"How-"

"I just know, ok," She interrupts him. Sophie tucks a piece of hair behind her ear, cocking her head to the left. she closes her bright green eyes for a moment, before opening them wide," Run."

"What?" Sophie pushes them, hard. They run to the door. Sophie shoves them once more out the door as the building explodes. they shouldn't have survived. the front of the building comes crashing towards the. Dick throws himself over Artemis, thinking to himself, that he's caused them enough suffering. they wait for the building to crush them. once the screaming crowd scatters, they hear grunting. Looking up, nightwing is completely befuddled to see his daughter holding up a two ton door and collecting debris. there is a piece of shrapnel in her side. Blood trickles down her skin. She pushes the wall into the fire. her clothes are covered in soot, destroying the brand new hero look. she looks like she this is the only thing she has ever done. years of pain and frustration presses down on her shoulders, but she presses right back with determination. holy shit, she is his daughter.

they pull the shrapnel out of her side, shocked to find the wound already healing. mom was indestructible, she explained. they went back to the tower. Sophie said she would look at the video later, and that she needed to fine Matt. He sits outside the medical wing with Wally. As Sophie turns the corner, he jumps up and is hugging her fiercely, his hand on the back of her head.

"Oh, god. they told me that there was an accident," He pulls away, his hands on her cheeks," I thought you were dead."

"I'm fine," She tells him with soft smile," a little banged up, but no worse than usual. Really, i'm ok."

"I thought you were dead," he rests his forehead on hers, eyes closed and whispering, horrified," I thought you were dead."

Wally hugs artemis, whispering in her ear that Jania was improving, but hadn't woken up yet.

"Well that's good." Sophie had pulled away from Matt, but held onto his hand," An unconscious Jania is better than a dead Jania."

"That's horrible." Artemis chids her.

"That's how we've lived the last few years. You think this is the first time Jania's been in the hospital in the last year, or even the last month. Comas and sedation is the least of her problems." Matt informs them. he doesn't try to sound snappy or sarcastic or even rude. he just sounds like he's explaining why the sky is blue or the grass is green. Sophie squeezes his hand.

"She's waking up." She tells him. He let's go of her hand and hurries to his sister's side. Sophie smiles before walking in. Wally, Dick and Artemis watch them through the door. Jania grumble something that makes Matt laugh. Sophie makes a comment that Jania retorts. the girls have a brief staring contest, then Sophie places a hand on her friend's shoulders. Wally is the one to address the elephant in the room.

"Matt and Sophie are dating." He tells him.

"Wait what?" it's impossible to describe the look on Nightwing's face.

"Yep. Your daughter and my son are together." He nods. Dick looks his friend dead in the eyes.

"I'm going to kill you." the nineteen year old says. there is a small panicked yell from in the room. Sophie pokes her head out the door.

"Yeah, Nightwing, please don't threaten that. Matt's hands just disappeared and reappeared. Jania tried reaching for a scalpel." She looks at Artemis and Wally," She wants to talk to you."

Jania gives them a goofy smile when they enter," Hey, future Mom and Dad. first i wanted to apologize for the freaking out and screaming at you earlier. Second, does this mean i am grounded before i am born?"

the tension breaks and everyone laughs. Sophie gives her friend a look over," considering you've just been tortured, you still manage to look awesome."

"Maybe i'm born with it," Jania says in an over dramatic breeze voice.

"Maybe it's blood," Sophie finishes, laughing with her friend. the girls act as if they have been friends since the day they were born. But a very nagging voice reminds them that Sophie said five years," Seriously, hon, you need a shower."

"No, i need someone to get me a canoe needle and some silk thread. a few stitches in my arm, a turkey sandwich, then i'll be fine." Matt rolls his eyes.

"let me look at the cuts." These kids seem more medically inclined than most of the heroes they knew today. Sophie unwraps the gauze, revealing the scarlet letters. both west children turn green," Seriously? you two can look at anyone else's blood without a problem, but the second it's your own blood-"

"Blood belongs in the body," Matt says tensely. Sophie rolls her eyes. they really are odd. everything, except the irises, is green. they are lovely, but unsettling. Sophie studies the wound.

"Jania, the cuts aren't too deep. there is a little muscle damage, but i think a week to a week and a half of physical therapy. no stitches, so sorry to destroy your 'look at what a badass i am' mantra." Jania swats the visible cut on her friend's side. Sophie smirks," Is that suppose to hurt?"

"So what now?" Jania asks her biological parents.

"The league is probably going to interrogate you," Wally guesses. Matt and Jania both roll their eyes.

"Of course," He grumbles.

"somethings never change," She shifts, yelping in pain," son of a-"

Matt covers his sister's mouth as she swears for a solid minute. most of it doesn't even sound like english. he pulls his hand away abruptly," She licked me!"

"His costume tastes like lint," Jania wipes her mouth on the back of her hand," You look like someone dyed Dad green."

His outfit was a lot like Wally's, only green and no lightning bolt. Jania looks at Sophie.

"you have pictures?"

"I have pictures."

"Blackmail worthy?"

"Yep."

"Pardon me," Black canary stands in the doorway.

"Hi, aunt Dinah. Let me guess we are being summoned," Jania laughs, grabbing her ribs in pain.

"Actually, i need to talk to Wally, Artemis, and Nightwing." The adults leave the teens to talk/bicker amongst themselves.

"What did we do wrong?" Wally asks blandly.

"Nothing. The league needed me to ask you all something. We need permission to question your daughters."

"What?" Artemis asks, confused," why just the girls?"

Canary holds up the picture that Artemis passed around earlier," He's eighteen. m'gann said that sophie was about Jania's age. we need parental permission to question the girls."

"Why do you need to question them?"

"Just protocol." that was a lie and everyone knew it.

The kids were interrogated for over an hour. When they came out of the room, Matt was carrying Jania on his back. they were bickering, and given Sophie's face, this was a normal argument.

"Matt, you are as irrational as Dad on this subject. Magic is clearly a factor in time travel. you live with two quarter demons, both who have magical qualities, but you're still saying that magic-"

"I am not saying that magic isn't real. i'm just saying that Aunt Zatanna said there was no good magic spell that could send a person back in time."

"Klarion isn't good!"

"I will drop you on your ass if you keep at this." Jania smacks her brother's arm in a playful way.

"This is what you have to look forward to," Sophie informs Wally and Artemis," I have actually seen home videos in where they argue on this at length."

"What now?" Artemis asks them.

"The watches are recharged. Parker said that once they were we should get the hell out of here." Sophie shrugs," I figure we can spend a few minutes and say good bye."

"Won't we see you in your time?" Matt and Jania get very quiet very quickly. Sophie looks at her sneakers.

"Jania, what did you tell them?" She asks very softly.

"Mission, gone over a year." Jania looks very interested in her brother's shoulder all of a sudden.

"You didn't tell them the truth?" Matt murmurs.

"Could you?"

"What truth?" Artemis asks. Neither teen answers. Harsher, she repeats," What truth?"

Matt and Jania flinch, as if they had been subject to that tone before and the results hadn't been fun. Matt sets Jania down, letting her lean on him. the muscles in her legs were weak, so she couldn't walk far or stand for very long. they pull their parents to the side and quietly begin to speak to them. Sophie pull Nightwing to the other side of the room.

"Look, i just… i just wanted you to know that in the future, my mom and siblings and i love you very much." She reaches into her jacket pocket," This is a really odd habit that we adopted, but i figured you might like to see a picture of your kids."

It's a small family portrait. Sophie looked about thirteen or fourteen, her black hair pulled out of her face into a ponytail. she had on a dark purple blouse and a long black skirt. sitting around her were three infants. at least they looked like infants. they were all sitting up and waving their hands at the camera, but couldn't have been more than three or four months old. the two little girls had patches of red hair and their eyes were shining with untampered joy. the little boy looked confused, like he had no idea where the hell he was or who these girls were. Nightwing looks at Sophie, with a raised eyebrow.

"Their names are Emerald Luna, Sapphire Estella, and Richard Bruce. They're almost four now." She gets a funny looking smile," I am about fifty seven percent certain that Sapphire will be good, but i've never seen another little girl more interested in bombs and traps."

"Who's your mother?" Nightwing asks softly.

She studies his face," I think you know who my mother is."

they have a silent conversation, him asking if it's true and her confirming it without either of them moving a muscle. Nightwing holds out a hand," it was nice to meet you."

"Nice to see you again." She shakes his hand. then she throws her arms around his neck, hugging him tightly. Nightwing is shocked for a moment, then feeling the girl shake as she holds back tears, he hugs her back," I love you, daddy."

"Sophie?" Matt calls," We've got to go."

"Yeah." She gives Nightwing one more look before walking gracefully to her friends. Jania is on her brother's back again, this time resting her head on his shoulder as if talking to their parents had wiped whatever energy she had left. Matt shifts gently, keeping her comfortable on his back. It's the first time since they've been here that Matt has looked at peace. This is what he does, protecting his little sister. Sophie takes his hand and they look at their parents.

"Hey, Dad," Matt says," Do me a favor. Don't try to name me Isaac Albert. Mom's right. i will come back and kill you."

Then they're gone, leaving behind a scorch mark and heavy hearts.

Dick didn't get back to the tower until after midnight. And there was too much on his mind, so he goes to his office. He sits there at his desk with the guilt of everything that had happened in the last year. Everyone assumed that he was like Batman, cold and distant and didn't give a damn about consequences. They were wrong. He knows what Artemis means to Wally. He had to watch her nearly dissolve into nothing after Wally disappeared. Everyday had been pure hell, and he was to blame. The door opens behind him, and two arms drape sleepily over his shoulders.

"Star, what are you doing up?" He turns the chair to look at his girlfriend. She had on a purple tanktop and pink sleep shorts, her beautiful red hair pulled up into messy bun.

"I had been waiting for you, but i fear i fell asleep," She gives him a concerned look,"Are you alright?"

He smiles softly, placing his hands on her hips and looks up into her odd green eyes," Not really, but it's ok. i have you."

Ok everyone wasn't exactly wrong. He is distant and cold at times, but since he meet Starfire, he wanted to tell her everything. He told her about growing up in the circus and his parents' deaths. He told her about living with Batman and the missions he had gone on. She made him a better person and the sheer thought of losing her made him want to pull her as close as humanly possible and never let anyone touch her. Starfire places her hands on his cheeks, smiling brightly. Nightwing rests his forehead on her torso.

"I believe on your planet, today is the celebration of a child. a sort of birthday," Starfire's interest in Earth holidays and misinterpretation of them made him want to kiss her.

"You're right, Star. Merry christmas."

"I also believe that there is a certain plant that requires people to kiss when they are under it."

He groans," Was it Cyborg or Beast Boy who told you that?"

"Beast Boy."

"Of course. Yes there is. mistletoe. Why do you ask?"

"Look up." He glances up and laughs.

"Star, those are maple leaves."

"Richard. Stop talking." She kisses him softly. He obeys her, relaxing and pushing any thoughts of the future from his mind. Starfire is all he needs right now, and he is content with that.

Wally and Artemis left soon after the kids left. They zetaed to Palo Alto and walked back to their apartment, his arm over her shoulder, keeping her close. they stopped several times to kiss and smile at each other happily. Wally notices small things that had changed in the six months he had been gone. her hair hung two inches longer, and looked as if she hadn't brushed it in a while. There's a small gray hue to her tan skin and dark bags under her beautifully stormy eyes. She looked at least fifteen pounds lighter, as if food had been the very last thing on her mind. They talked about what he missed. He almost cried when she said that Barry wanted to name his son Wallace. Iris refused, saying that name belonged to Wally's parents. It was too late for them to go see his parents, but they were planning on going to see them tomorrow. Christmas morning. He was her christmas present, Artemis decided. Growing up with her father, she was never allowed to believe in santa and her gifts were often extra training that day or a new bow. not the hair ribbon kind, no. the kind that assassins have. The first year they had been dating, after wally learned about past christmases, he got her a charm bracelet. there was a moon shaped charm, because she was named after the greek goddess of the moon. a small doll shaped one for the childhood she deserved. a lighting bolt for him. the last one made her cry. He gave it to her last year, near their five year anniversary. it was half a heart with the word fire inscribed on it. wally had the other half on a necklace that he tucked under his shirt. together they formed spitfire. She had kissed him until neither could breathe.

As soon as they open the door to their apartment, Kent practically attacks Wally with a slobbery tongue. Kent had been a gift to Wally from Artemis two years before. Wally never explained why he named the dog Kent, just saying that it was a way to honor a friend. Wally bends down and scratches the rescue dog behind the ears," Hey, boy. Good dog. i missed you too."

He takes a second to look at the apartment. It's clean, but it looks unlived in. Take out boxes are piled in the trash. the couch still has the same pillow and blanket Wally slept on when artemis was undercover. their bed had been too big and too empty without her. Did she not want to move them in case Wally came back and crashed on the couch, which he did when he studied for finals and was at the library late, or had she been sleeping on the couch? It honestly seems like she hadn't slept at all, but the latter seems more likely. Wally looks for Artemis, and finds her, sitting at the foot of their bed, crying softly. He flashes over, taking her spot and pulling her into his lap. A few tears escape his eyes when she whispers," You were dead, Wally. I was never going to see you again. i wanted it to be like the simulation."

He kisses her gold hair and cries with her," No. I don't want you to think like that, babe. That simulation… it's one of my biggest regrets. I had nightmares for two months afterwards and they were all about seeing you die."

"What?" She sniffles. The Failsafe simulation is one of those topics that people think about often, but never really discuss," You never told me."

"I didn't even tell canary during therapy. I just brushed it off like it happened everyday," He rests his forehead on the top of her hair," The only way i could bring myself to crying when kaldur 'killed' you was to remind myself that i had been too slow to save you."

It's the first time he's ever told anyone that. People might have guessed it, but Artemis is the only person he would ever admit it to. She turns so she was sitting with her knees against his hips," I'm sorry."

"No, babe, no. You're right, there is always going to be a world to save. We can try to run all we want from the life, but it's going to be one more mission and one more after that and so on and so forth until we die. We don't get to just think about ourselves. we gave that up years ago, but i know what i'm fighting for. I'm fighting for a world where you and i get to live together, happily ever after. Every time i thought of that damned simulation, it just reminds me that i figured out when i couldn't live without you," He wipes the tears from her eyes and cheeks," It reminds me that i love you more than anything in this world. I am in love with you, Artemis Crock, and nothing you say or do will ever change that."

The words fell from his lips comfortably, like he said them a thousand times a day. Artemis smiles, laughing a watery laugh," I'm in love with you too, Wally West."

He kisses her, his hands on the small of her back and hers in his tangled red hair. Much later, they lay in bed. her head rests on his chest, just over his heart. He has her close, his arms resting lightly on her bare skin. Artemis had fallen asleep about an hour earlier, resting peacefully for the first time in almost a year. Wally stares at her under his heavy eyelids. He did love her. When she was 'dead', Wally spent countless nights lying awake, wondering if she was thinking of him too. He had to throw himself into his school work, spending as little time here as he could. He had told her mother she was dead. It was, without a doubt, the most despicable thing he had ever done. He silently hopes that Mrs. Crock can forgive him one day.

Artemis turns in her sleep, tucking her arm under her head and murmuring under her breath. He turns and wraps an arm around her waist, closing his eyes. Her arms drapes over his, taking his hand. He' going to marry this woman one day. It's certain. He's going to be the lucky son of a bitch that gets her. they were going to have children together. Wally had thought of that often. Boys with coarse blonde hair or silky red. Girls with mischievous green eyes or intelligent gray. Matt and Jania. Jania and Matt. Wally fell asleep, with the love of his life in his arms, safe once again, knowing that somewhere in the future. his children were safe. If only they had told him the truth….


End file.
